THE INSIDE TRACK | MORNING BRIEFING

Following in Dad's Slickness Wasn't Such a Good Idea

When Washington lost three consecutive Pacific 10 Conference games this season, guard Donald Watts shaved his head in search of "a new beginning."

But he wasn't expecting the kind of reaction he received.

"I kind of forgot for the moment that my dad pioneered that," said Watts, the son of former NBA guard Slick Watts. "I got too many compliments that I looked just like him. That was not a comment I want."

After all, Slick Watts has been used as a dig on many a playground. You call a balding friend "Slick Watts" on the court and wait for the elbows to start flying.

Donald Watts let his hair start growing back, only after his father stopped by practice to see how he looked.

"I was shooting free throws," Donald Watts said. "He came in and looked around and thought, 'Nah, he ain't around,' and went in the locker room looking for me. He thought I was somebody else."

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More Washington: The Huskies got a thrill by practicing at Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium before traveling to Greensboro, N.C. for the NCAA East Regional semifinals. (Washington lost, 75-74, to Connecticut Thursday.)

Then they got a chill when Coach Bob Bender modeled his old Duke uniform, circa 1978.

Did it still fit?

"Not by our standards," Watts said. "I guess 20 years ago or whatever, that was considered fitting. It looked like it was cutting off circulation to me. I can't believe they used to wear those things."

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Trivia time: Who is the only player to play for two schools in the NCAA tournament title game?

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It's a wonderful life, at home: Life is great for Life University when its basketball team plays at home.

The school in Marietta, Ga., has won 87 consecutive games at its cozy gymnasium. Life last lost at home on Nov. 13, 1993, a 77-70 defeat at the hands of Georgetown College of Georgetown, Ky.

"We'd love to be playing this tournament at home," said Coach Roger Kaiser, whose team was seeded third in the 32-team field for the NAIA tournament at Tulsa, Okla.

The outcome of Life's second-round game, however, wasn't wonderful as it lost to Southern Nazarene (Okla.), 94-90.

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Faceoff: On one side is Houston businessman Les Alexander, trying to move the Edmonton Oilers to the United States. On the other are the Sisters of the Precious Blood.

"We don't want to see them leave," Sister Margaret Mary told the Dallas Morning News. "Not only for our sake, but for the sake of the city. [The Oilers] are good models for our children."

Sister Margaret Mary is one of 13 members of the order, and the sisters have left gifts near the feet of a statue of Jesus, a tiny hockey stick and puck.

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Money for something: Ray Ratto of the San Francisco Examiner mused about Barry Bonds' decision to defer $15 million of his remaining salary so the Giants can pursue a free agent or two.

"Let's see what his $15 million brings," Ratto wrote. "Let's see if Barry Bonds, the active player with the most games played without a World Series appearance, can do what neither Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio or anyone else has ever done.

"Let's see if he can be the most valuable player and executive of the year. And whether that can provide him the satisfaction he says he can never have. If so, maybe we can all unclench our foreheads and finally take him at stats' value, which is what he says he wanted all along."

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Trivia answer: None other than Bob Bender. He played on Indiana's championship team in 1976, transferred to Duke and played there when the Blue Devils lost in the title game to Kentucky in 1978.

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And finally: German soccer Coach Berti Vogts, after watching the United States beat Brazil: "The Brazilians have the best team of all time. They don't play soccer, they celebrate soccer. We can't play like Brazil, but Brazil can still be beaten by Germany. We play soccer with the power the Germans deployed in the phase of reconstruction after World War II."